It’s a pun. Get it?

George , the feline sitting pretty above(^), is probably the only cat (or one of the only cats) I’ve ever really enjoyed spending time with. I never really “got” cats. You could probably attribute this to the fact that I haven’t spent very much time with cats, and you’d be right. I haven’t…But my thoughts on the difficulties of cat-ownership have recently extended to pet ownership in general.

Now, I grew up a dog person (almost literally if you count my time spent as “Puppy Lauren”) and I was raised to believe in the love and companionship and wonder that pets provide. A pet is another bundle of life in your family, something(someone?) to cuddle with and care for, someone to be responsible to…The relationship is great. I won’t deny it. Heck, I won’t even deny craving it.

But…unlike, say, a (human) sister or parent or friend, what your pet does when you’re not there is…sit around your house. Climb on the furniture. Eat. Sleep. Chew on a toy. Basically, they just pace and circle and inhabit a small space.

Sure, you say, they’re animals and they need space, but they’re domesticated animals.

So what does that mean? That taking a pet outside once in a blue moon is enough? That the space to roam is only important (or relevant) because they’re animal…and because they’re “domesticated” that they get enough? I know that I feel trapped staying in the same space (house, room, etc) for long periods of time. And I know that I’m an animal. Of sorts. But just the idea that I can change my situation as I see fit where your dog or cat (let alone bunny, fish…) can’t is something that’s made me (re)consider pet-ownership.

Then again, look at George. George has a cat door and she can come and go as she pleases. Often, she’s pleased to cuddle up beside me on the couch. Sometimes she decides to leave and play outside with her stray cat friends down the street. “Consent” is probably a loaded word to bring into this stream-of-consciousness/fluff blog post, butttt…having that semblance of choice seems more satisfying to me as a potential, future “owner.” Maybe I’m more of a cat person than I thought.

Categories: Muse

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Muse. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.